


Totally Bonded for Life... Right?

by keeping_10_people_happy_is_tricky



Series: This is how I deal with my sudden Life is Strange feels [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Don't read if you haven't completed the game!!!, F/F, Feels, LiS fix it almost, Max's pictures, SPOILERS FOR LIFE IS STRANGE, diary entries, k10phit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 21:11:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5105894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keeping_10_people_happy_is_tricky/pseuds/keeping_10_people_happy_is_tricky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe's death was hard. Hella fucking hard. And the only person Max wants- needs- to talk to is gone.<br/>Or is she?<br/>Max sees life better through a view finder but what about when she starts seeing things that aren't there? Things like cigarettes or 'grass' in ash trays, black clothes or or keys that aren't hers? Maybe Max is insane in the brain and tripping balls or, hopefully but unlikely, it's a scary punk ghost who wants to stick around. </p><p>Or:<br/>The four times Max's pictures showed evidence of Chloe and the one time Chloe showed evidence of herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Totally Bonded for Life... Right?

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of Life is Strange feelings that aren't getting out properly so here's a thing that I felt compelled to write at 2 am.  
> I don't own any of the characters, we have DontNod and Square Enix to thank for such amazing and special characters (even if one of them was a sick psycho!). I'm not earning anything from this besides my own satisfaction.  
> Come chat if you want to gush about Max or Chloe or anyone,  
> Tumblr is: keeping-10-people-happy.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy :)

The First Time

_It's been a month since... since the week from heaven and hell. Heaven because I got to be with Chloe again. Hell for... for the rest of it._  
Warren and Kate know that I've been down recently. Not that they know why. But they've both been there for me and Warren's eased up on the whole 'going ape' thing. That nightmare with walking through the halls with Jefferson (the fucking asshole) and the others still creeps me out. I can still hear them. When Warren said I should 'go ape' with him, I ran and threw up. He hasn't asked me since, thank god.   
I'm so glad Kate hasn't been bullied as bad as last time. Since Nathan was arrested, the video has been taken down and everyone has been really supportive. Even people like Taylor and Justin. I didn't hold out hope for Zach though.   
_My powers are gone. I'm torn because I want to go back in time and save Chloe but I know I can't. I made the choice and I have to keep telling myself that it's the right one and..._  
_No. I've tortured myself enough over this. And it's not what I wanted to talk about._  
 _We've got a new photography teacher, not a psychopathic freak like the last fucker. She's nice but even I have to admit that she's not as good as Mark Jefferson (at teaching) and it makes me sick to think that. In that nightmare, when he asked me to go into the darkroom, I said I loved him. Why? I hate that monster and I don't even know why I said it! And he said he loved me too! It's disgusting and I've tried to burn it from my mind. I've been so tempted to text Frank for something. God, what would mom say?_  
 _But that's not what I wanted to talk about either._  
 _I've started taking photos again. I've gone through all of Chloe and my old photos and, despite all of the shit they put me through that week, they're still my passion. Even more so than ever. And the other day I was outside the girls dorms, talking to Samuel. He knows something, or at least the squirrels do and they've been talking to him. He said-_  
 _"Love always finds a way. Promises made with love aren't easily broken." I don't know what he means. But I think he was trying to be helpful. When he left, I don't know why but I just felt like taking another selfie. For old times sake. I at least thought to check if Victoria was around first!_  
 _But when the picture came out, I saw something. Behind me was the blue butterfly. But when I turned around, it was nowhere in sight. I really hope this isn't more universe-fucking-with-me shit. It's messed with me enough and I've learned my lesson._

 

The Second Time 

_Ever since that picture, I've been getting a strange feeling. It's almost like I don't want to take pictures anymore._  
_Warren took me out to the Two Whales and we ran into Brooke. They've gotten closer since that week. I'm happy for them; Happy that Warren is happy. Then Dana and Juliet took me to see a movie which was fun. I did take a picture with them then and no butterfly._  
_On the way home I took a picture of the beach with Pompidou running about in the distance. Still no butterfly. And by the time I was back in my dorm room, the irrational fear I had about taking photos was gone. So I didn't really think when I took another selfie, making sure to get the darkened window in the background since the lighting was cool._  
But then the picture came out and I almost dropped my camera. Almost.  _On the corner of my desk was a red, triangular ash tray with a smoldering cigarette in it. When I turned around, there was a small streak of smoke rising from the same corner._  
_I screamed. Which was a dumb idea because then Victoria came storming in, dressed in silk pj's, and started lecturing me about proper dorm room etiquette. She then called me a 'freakazoid' and stormed back into her room. I wanted to be mad but the look of actual concern on her face stopped me. I don't even think she noticed._  
 _When I went to sleep, the stream of smoke lasted for about a minute before it stopped. I got to sleep around an hour after that, I think._

 

The Third Time 

_The weekend, finally!_   
_It's been a long week, what with all of my assignments and helping Dana with her new cheer routine. Like I would now. But she looks happy while she does it so it's no biggie at all. Trevor is sometimes comes by and I know that that's my cue to leave._   
_I spent this morning with Kate and her bunny. It's sooo cute. I can tell that Kate really loves it, like it's her baby. We don't talk about Mark Jefferson and Nathan getting arrested. It's still sensitive for Kate sand I know what she went through. I went through it too, not that I can say so. I then started thinking about how badly I wanted to talk about it all but then Kate would probably think I'm possessed and try to get her priest to do an exorcism on me! No way Jose!_   
_So I left and went to the Two Whales. It was so nice to see Joyce; she always smiles when she sees me. I wish I could tell her how awesome Chloe was and what a hero she was too. We got talking and I told her about how my picture did for the 'Everyday Heroes' contest. It was the same one as last time but instead I used as many photos of Chloe as I could. I know that Joyce keeps a copy of it at her house. She told me that her and David were planning a trip to go away somewhere next year. They seriously need to get out of this town and live happily._   
_Then there was this moment when Joyce was serving the trucker I saved. I don't why but the angle and the lighting seemed right and I couldn't help myself. I took the photo and was really happy with it. It wasn't anything special like a car on the roof or Warren's cheesy science pic (he still says that I should be scientist). But then I looked at the corner of my table at the bottom of the photo and freaked. Those were Chloe's keys. I'd recognize that robot panda key-chain anywhere. And again, they weren't there in real life._   
_It has to be some new freaky universe thing. It has to. But what does it mean? Is Chloe still hanging around like some punk ghost or is my camera just messing with me? Is it trapped in this timeline and some other timeline where Chloe is still alive?_   
_I don't know and my brain is too fried to figure it out. Super Max... more like mad Max._   
_Warren's just texted me and he wants to the pool with Stella and Daniel. I think a swim will cool my head down. Hopefully._

 

The Fourth Time 

_Ok I must be fucking out of my mind! This can't be happening!_   
_I was in my room after coming back from class, Victoria stopped me in the hallway and talked to me about helping her with some photos next week (wtf?), and I thought that I could have an ordinary afternoon. But then I came into my room, sat down on my bed and my radio started playing. By itself. But the strangest part was that it was the same song Chloe made me put on for her in her room._   
_But oh no, the weirdness didn't stop there._   
_Again, I don't know why I did it. Wishful thinking maybe? So I took out my camera and took a photo of my bed. I expected to see Chloe magically appear in the photo, dancing on my bed and getting high or something. But no. She wasn't. Instead, it was her jacket, draped across the end of the bed. I've been staring at the four photos for like an hour and  can't wrap my head around it. Is it really Chloe? Is she actually here with me?_

And the One Time 

Max sighed and dropped her diary beside her on the couch. The four photos still sat on the ground in front of her like four annoying kids that don't stop asking questions that you don't know the answer to. There was no way that Chloe could be back; in any sense. Max saw her die over and over just for the blue haired punk to sacrifice herself for everyone. She couldn't go through it all again.   
"Dammit," Max muttered as she rubbed her eyes until they stopped stinging. Reluctantly, she looked back at all of the photos.   
The butterfly.   
The lit cigarette.   
The keys.   
The goddamn jacket.   
All evidence of Chloe who wasn't there anymore. Max went to her funeral for god's sake! But she had seen the impossible; done the impossible. So why was this so hard to believe? She felt stupid and sad and all kinds of crazy. But she had to ask.   
"Chloe?" Max called out, alone in her room. "Are you really here? Please... just show me something."   
When she was answered with silence, Max got her camera and took a picture of her room. She scanned every inch of the photo and found nothing strangely added. Nothing of Chloe.   
"Seriously?" She muttered. It was late and this was all too much. Max picked up the four photos and went to stick them inside her diary. But then she stopped. A cold chill ran down her spine as she looked at the bottom of the page she had just been writing on. 

 _Totally bonded for life, remember?_  

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why but there you have it.  
> God, don't let me write after midnight or you get weird shit like this!  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it :)  
> Obviously I chose to sacrifice Chloe even though I didn't want to. But FUCK! that choice took me so long to make. I love Chloe, I really do. But she was right, those memories mattered even if they technically didn't happen. It's all about immersion, people!  
> So many LiS feels and I gotta say that it was one hell of a game. It will certainly stand out for me! 
> 
> See you in the next one :)


End file.
